The Georgian state security service has accused Russia of ‘provocations’ after the Russian military were spotted near the village of Mereti in the Gori region in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, on territory controlled by the Georgian authorities.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry also accused Russia of spreading misinformation that Tbilisi is trying to “infect South Ossetia with the coronavirus”.

Possible resumption of “borderisation” in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone

Residents of the village of Mereti said that Russian soldiers cleared part of the territory from shrubs. They suggest that soon they will begin the installation of border engineering structures here.

This information was also confirmed by the state security service.

Georgian authorities have informed the EU observer mission.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia made a statement saying that over the past week the process of “borderisation” was resumed by the Russian side in the Kareli, Tsalenjikha and Zugdidi regions of Georgia.

“Borderization” – this word has been included in the political science dictionary as the name of the process of arranging the demarcation line in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, which the Georgian side calls the administrative border, and the Ossetian side – the state border.

The process was launched by the Ossetian side and the Russian border service and the state security committee in 2009, a few months after the Georgian-Russian war around South Ossetia in August 2008. Russia then recognised South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.

The process of “bordering” is carried out mainly by the Russian military, with the participation of Ossetians. They erect barbed wire fences, install metal or wooden barriers, dig ditches and fire-resistant furrows, install signs with the inscription “state border of South Ossetia” and set up a monitoring infrastructure.

Tbilisi calls the process “creeping annexation”, or “occupation”.

Some of the fences passes right through yards in Georgian villages in the conflict zone, depriving local residents of housing and access to gardens, pastures, and cemeteries.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry accused Russia of provocations and a hybrid war in several directions at once.

In particular, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow during the pandemic made the Georgian laboratory of Lugar, which plays a major role in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, the target of its propaganda.

“Russia and the occupation regime in Tskhinvali make absurd and comical statements that Georgia is allegedly artificially ‘infecting’ the inhabitants of the Tskhinvali region with coronavirus

These statements have one goal – to discredit the Georgian authorities in the eyes of the local population and create controlled chaos,” the statement said.

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